UK Wine Pub of the Year Eleven Times

When someone wins a major national accolade it is always worthy of note. If they go on to win it three or four times, they make head-lines. But what can you say about a man that wins a major award 11 times in row?

Woods, which is Paddy Groves’ wine-bar and restaurant in Dulverton, may be in lockdown - but he find himself rejoicing once again now the business has been named The Good Pub Guide’s Best UK Wine Pub for the eleventh time in a row!

Paddy Groves at his farm above Dulverton

“This is the eleventh year for Woods - in all I’ve won it 14 times in 15 years with two previous pubs I’ve owned,” says Paddy.  

“I honestly don’t know the criteria. You never know when the judges have been - or even if they’ve been. You just get the letter saying you’ve won. And we’ve also been in the Guide’s Top Ten English Pubs for the past five years, so we must be doing something right.”

“I’ve never set out to win awards,” he shrugs. “If you don’t know what they are looking for, how can you attempt to win it? So I’ve never thought about it - then the letter comes and you are overjoyed. But even I have to say, eleven years is a bit of milestone.”

The editor of the Good Pub Guide told the us: “I can’t think of another pub that can touch Woods. Wine is something Paddy really loves and really knows about. Woods also has amazing food. And what is special is that one half is a cheerful lively bar with lots of locals and chat and the other half is more for dining and where most people can open their lovely bottles of wine.

“There’s no other pub in The Good Pub Guide that can touch Woods for such an exceptional wine list. It’s all down to positive feedback,” she added. “Obviously everyone loves Woods - there’s not a bad thing anyone could say about it.”

Speaking from his Exmoor farm this week Paddy told us… “We’re certainly living through tough times - we’ve only been open for five months in the past year - but hopefully we’ll be back before too long doing what we’ve always done best…”